King County Sheriff’s Deputy Fired Over Felony Conviction

King County sheriff’s deputy Edward Hicks was fired on June 28 after a jury in Michigan found him guilty earlier this week of beating a man back in 2016.

Before getting hired as a King County Sheriff’s deputy in 2017, Hicks worked for the Detroit Police Department, where he was investigated for assaulting a man while on the job. The matter was eventually handed off to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, who charged him in 2017 with misdemeanor aggravated assault and felony misconduct in office—the two criminal charges that the Michigan jury upheld on June 25.

In a letter to Deputy Hicks informing him of his firing, King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht wrote: “I find that we are unable to maintain your employment any longer because our policy clearly provides that we cannot employ anyone with a felony criminal conviction.”

According to The Seattle Times, while riding with his partner at the Detroit Police Department, Hicks chased down and vigorously beat a suspect who had initially fled from Hicks, causing substantial facial injuries.

Hicks waived his right to a formal internal hearing with Sheriff Johanknecht on June 27, where he would have been allowed to respond to the jury’s verdict.

It is unclear how this episode escaped the King County Sheriff’s Office when they hired Hicks back in 2017. The office is currently investigating how Hicks was hired back in 2017 despite an ongoing investigations by the Detroit Police Department and Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, according to spokesperson Ryan Abbott.